80K and his clown and Emery being perhaps the most recent hard tussle that I remember.

But I'll never forget the first BYU-Utah game that I attended back in 1977 that almost led to a large scale fight.

BYU didn't have a very good team that year. Frank Arnold was in his second year and the team consisted mostly of Glen Potter recruits. Scott Runia and Alan Taylor were freshman; Danny Ainge was a senior in high school; Fred Roberts, Devin Durrant, Steve Trumbo, Greg Kite, and the rest of the New Breed were two years away from arriving at BYU. The Cougar's core players in 1977 included Jay Cheesman, Mark Handy, Mike May, and a couple of Law brothers. On the other hand, Utah was enjoying a very good season and handily beat BYU twice that year.

In the UTEP game a week prior to the BYU-Utah home game, Cheesman hurt his nose which required him to wear a mask. Emotions were pretty high and at one point Cheesman and Utah's Buster Matheny got entangled. As they separated, Matheny took a swipe at Cheesman's face and the mask flew off. Handy came behind Matheny and locked both of Matheny's arms behind his back. A BYU male cheerleader named Sterling took a couple of steps onto the court and toward Matheny before being restrained. After a couple of technicals and rejections order was restored.

I became a BYU basketball fan that day. I loved the emotion within the Marriott Center.